*** The Prosecutor is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG about my friend Steven Chand. He NEVER once expressed hatred or bias against non Muslims. He NEVER once expressed any desire to undertake violent jihad. They are totally WRONG to be doing what they have done - I know Steven better than anyone in that courtroom and all these descriptions against hime are FALSE. MS ***
A man convicted of trying to fundraise for the “Toronto 18″ terrorist group was motivated by “bias or hatred” toward non-Muslims, a Superior Court judge heard this morning.
Steven Chand, 29, was found guilty in June of participating in the homegrown terror cell and counselling the commission of fraud for its benefit. The group planned to storm Parliament and detonate powerful trucks bombs in downtown Toronto as a protest against Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, but authorities foiled the plot before it came to fruition.
During Chand’s sentencing hearing in a Brampton courthouse today, Crown attorney Sarah Shaikh highlighted his significant level of participation in the terrorist group — particularly, Chand’s help in training recruits at a 2005 winter camp in Washago, Ont.
“He was a trainer at Washago … He was not a [mere] recruit,” Ms. Shaikh said, noting Chand listened to ringleader Fahim Ahmad’s “jihadi rants” and was well aware of the camp’s terrorist purposes. Chand also encouraged the group to acquire weapons, she noted; at one point, he attempted to enlist an outsider to facilitate a moneymaking scheme, leading to the fraud charge.
“Chand’s actions were motivated by a bias or hatred toward non-believers,” Ms. Shaikh said.
The Crown is calling for a total sentence of 8 to 8.5 years, while the defence is asking for 6 to 8. Justice Fletcher Dawson has repeatedly expressed reservations about the proposed length of sentence, suggesting it may be too low.
The participation offence carries a maximum 10-year sentence, while the fraud offence carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.
Defence lawyer Michael Moon will make his submissions this afternoon.
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/07/crown-wants-8-year-sentence-for-toronto-18s-steven-chand/#ixzz0ysMaF5SF
Showing posts with label steven chand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steven chand. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
TORONTO 18 CASE - INTERATIONAL LINKS
*** Too bad that 4 years had to pass - and for a false narrative to have taken hold by armchair pundits who pronounced verdicts even before the trial began! NOW - 4 years later - the public will start to hear more of what they should have been given the first time: the truth. MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/18/toronto-18-jury.html
Toronto 18 details emerge as jury sequestered
What the jury didn't get to hear about Fahim Ahmad
A jury in Brampton, Ont., has started to deliberate in the latest trial for those accused in the Toronto 18 extremist plot case.
The jurors were sequestered Friday after the judge finished instructing them in the case presented against the two accused, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari. Both were charged with participating in a terrorist group, and Chand faces a further charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Until the moment the jury went out, a sweeping publication ban had prevented media from reporting any details of the case other than what was said in the courtroom in this trial. That included any details of past convictions and evidence in previous Toronto 18 trials.
One of the names that came up repeatedly in past trials was that of the self-acknowledged leader of the group, Fahim Ahmad. Admad was to have been tried along with Chand and Ansari on charges of participating in a terrorist group, instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence.
But on May 10, he made a surprise about-turn. In the middle of his trial on terrorism charges he abruptly reversed himself and pleaded guilty. What the five-woman, seven-man jury had heard about Ahmad to that point was hair-raising enough.
Untold details of plot
In hundreds of hours of taped phone intercepts and secretly recorded conversations with police mole Mubin Sheik, Ahmad spoke enthusiastically of building an arsenal of high-powered weapons, including AK-47s and M-16s, and of attacking Canadian targets such as the Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario and storming Parliament in Ottawa to "cut off some heads."
What the jury and the Canadian public didn't hear about was the story of Ahmad's ties to international terrorism.
Before turning his attention to building a Canadian al-Qaeda style terrorist cell, Ahmad was plotting acts of terrorism with alienated young Muslim men like himself in the United States, the United Kingdom and perhaps beyond.
One of those young men was Aabid Khan, who was an al-Qaeda supporter and recruiter living in Bradford, England. According to British security analyst Sajan Gohel, Khan was no foot solider, he was a plotter who put together terrorism cells on the internet.
Khan was arrested by British anti-terrorism police at Manchester International Airport on June 6, 2006, just four days after the RCMP busted the Toronto 18.
Khan was returning from one of his frequent trips to Pakistan. On his laptop computer and on 53 harddrives found at his home, police discovered what a British prosecutor later referred to as a library of violent Jihadi videos and Islamist propaganda tracts. Amongst the videos police discovered was an edited two-minute feature shot at a Canadian winter indoctrination and military training camp organized by Ahmad and by Toronto 18 co-leader Zakaria Amara at Washego, Ont.
U.K. police also found hundreds of hours of saved chats between Khan, Ahmad and other members of the Toronto 18.
Met in a chat room
Ahmad first met Kahn in 2003 in an internet chat room called Clear Guidance. The site was frequented by angry, young Muslim men — and by 2004 Ahmad had posted over 700 messages.
Other Clear Guidance members included Yanous Tsouli. The internet moniker Tsouli chose to give himself was Irhabi 007. Irhabi is Arabic for terrorist. The reference to 007 is an allusion to the fictional, over-sexed British secret agent James Bond.
Tsouli was the son of a Moroccan diplomat living in east London. Tsouli was an internet genius with close ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq. When a London SWAT team burst into his apartment on Oct. 21, 2005, to arrest him he was building a new website called YouBombit.com. The website was a do-it-yourself guide for wannabe terrorists that featured bomb-making recipes and instructions on how to make suicide vests.
Amongst the videos Tsouli planned to put up on the website were what the FBI alleges were surveillance videos of possible targets in Washington, D.C. The videos were shot by two of Fahim Ahmad's associates from Atlanta.
Ehasnul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were also Clear Guidance regulars. In March 2005, Sadequee and Haris Ahmed travelled to Toronto to visit Fahim Ahmad and his growing band of recruits.
Over the next week, the young men talked about potential targets and the need to get paramilitary training in Pakistan. In transcripts of internet chats introduced at his trial at Blackfriars Court in London, England, Aaabid Khan told Fahim Ahmad he could arrange to get them paramilitary training with Lashkar Tayiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks.
Aabid Khan was also in Toronto that week. At his trial, Khan insisted he had come to marry Fahim Ahmad's sister-in-law, a 19-year-old woman named Saima Mohamed, not to plot terrorism. Saima was also committed to the Jihadist cause.
In transcripts of internet chats included in the evidence at Khan's trial, Saima Mohamed tells him of her desire to become a suicide commando. In a written letter she tells him: "The more I think about my goal in life, the more vivid my goals become. Whether it's exploding prisons or freeing Muslim prisoners … Let it be a martyrdom operation."
She tells Khan that although her sister Mariyam disapproves of her ambition to become a martyr, Fahim has given her his approval. Mohamed was never arrested. She declined several interview requests from CBC News but in a letter from her lawyer Faizel Kutty, he stated that she does not espouse violent views. He also reminded the CBC being young can be a difficult and confusing period.
Aabid Khan and Fahim Ahmad's plan was to rent basements apartments in Toronto where their most-committed internet recruits could live for a month and bond before leaving for Pakistan to get paramilitary training with Lashkar.
After training they would return to Toronto, choose targets and then disperse to stage spectacular acts of terrorism in at least four countries. But as Ahmad was out searching for cheap apartments to rent, the plan began to fall apart.
Grew impatient
Ahmad began to grow impatient with Khan, who wanted to move slowly. Ahmad also had trouble getting his hands on the $5,000 he calculated he would need to go to Pakistan. After splitting with Khan, Ahmad and his friend Zakaria Amara turned their attention to Canada and building an al-Qaeda type cell in Toronto.
In August 2008, Aabid Khan was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In 2007, another Clear Guidance regular, Mersad Bektasavic, received a 15 year, four-month sentence from a Bosnian court for plotting an attack in Europe. When Bektasevic was arrested, police found a suicide vest and 18 kilograms of factory-made explosive in his apartment.
In June 2009, American Syed Haris Ahmed was found guilty of material support for terrorism in the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years. Later that year, his friend Ehsenul Mohamed Sadequee was found guilty on four terrorism charges and sentenced to 17 years followed by 30 years of supervision. In the indictments of both men, Fahim Ahmad is named as a co-conspirator.
Fahim Ahmad has pleaded guilty to four charges. He is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. As a result of his guilty plea, the jury is no longer involved in Ahmad's case. He will be sentenced in Federal Court in Brampton, Ont., by Justice Fletcher Dawson later this summer.
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/18/toronto-18-jury.html
Toronto 18 details emerge as jury sequestered
What the jury didn't get to hear about Fahim Ahmad
A jury in Brampton, Ont., has started to deliberate in the latest trial for those accused in the Toronto 18 extremist plot case.
The jurors were sequestered Friday after the judge finished instructing them in the case presented against the two accused, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari. Both were charged with participating in a terrorist group, and Chand faces a further charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Until the moment the jury went out, a sweeping publication ban had prevented media from reporting any details of the case other than what was said in the courtroom in this trial. That included any details of past convictions and evidence in previous Toronto 18 trials.
One of the names that came up repeatedly in past trials was that of the self-acknowledged leader of the group, Fahim Ahmad. Admad was to have been tried along with Chand and Ansari on charges of participating in a terrorist group, instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence.
But on May 10, he made a surprise about-turn. In the middle of his trial on terrorism charges he abruptly reversed himself and pleaded guilty. What the five-woman, seven-man jury had heard about Ahmad to that point was hair-raising enough.
Untold details of plot
In hundreds of hours of taped phone intercepts and secretly recorded conversations with police mole Mubin Sheik, Ahmad spoke enthusiastically of building an arsenal of high-powered weapons, including AK-47s and M-16s, and of attacking Canadian targets such as the Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario and storming Parliament in Ottawa to "cut off some heads."
What the jury and the Canadian public didn't hear about was the story of Ahmad's ties to international terrorism.
Before turning his attention to building a Canadian al-Qaeda style terrorist cell, Ahmad was plotting acts of terrorism with alienated young Muslim men like himself in the United States, the United Kingdom and perhaps beyond.
One of those young men was Aabid Khan, who was an al-Qaeda supporter and recruiter living in Bradford, England. According to British security analyst Sajan Gohel, Khan was no foot solider, he was a plotter who put together terrorism cells on the internet.
Khan was arrested by British anti-terrorism police at Manchester International Airport on June 6, 2006, just four days after the RCMP busted the Toronto 18.
Khan was returning from one of his frequent trips to Pakistan. On his laptop computer and on 53 harddrives found at his home, police discovered what a British prosecutor later referred to as a library of violent Jihadi videos and Islamist propaganda tracts. Amongst the videos police discovered was an edited two-minute feature shot at a Canadian winter indoctrination and military training camp organized by Ahmad and by Toronto 18 co-leader Zakaria Amara at Washego, Ont.
U.K. police also found hundreds of hours of saved chats between Khan, Ahmad and other members of the Toronto 18.
Met in a chat room
Ahmad first met Kahn in 2003 in an internet chat room called Clear Guidance. The site was frequented by angry, young Muslim men — and by 2004 Ahmad had posted over 700 messages.
Other Clear Guidance members included Yanous Tsouli. The internet moniker Tsouli chose to give himself was Irhabi 007. Irhabi is Arabic for terrorist. The reference to 007 is an allusion to the fictional, over-sexed British secret agent James Bond.
Tsouli was the son of a Moroccan diplomat living in east London. Tsouli was an internet genius with close ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq. When a London SWAT team burst into his apartment on Oct. 21, 2005, to arrest him he was building a new website called YouBombit.com. The website was a do-it-yourself guide for wannabe terrorists that featured bomb-making recipes and instructions on how to make suicide vests.
Amongst the videos Tsouli planned to put up on the website were what the FBI alleges were surveillance videos of possible targets in Washington, D.C. The videos were shot by two of Fahim Ahmad's associates from Atlanta.
Ehasnul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were also Clear Guidance regulars. In March 2005, Sadequee and Haris Ahmed travelled to Toronto to visit Fahim Ahmad and his growing band of recruits.
Over the next week, the young men talked about potential targets and the need to get paramilitary training in Pakistan. In transcripts of internet chats introduced at his trial at Blackfriars Court in London, England, Aaabid Khan told Fahim Ahmad he could arrange to get them paramilitary training with Lashkar Tayiba, the group behind the Mumbai attacks.
Aabid Khan was also in Toronto that week. At his trial, Khan insisted he had come to marry Fahim Ahmad's sister-in-law, a 19-year-old woman named Saima Mohamed, not to plot terrorism. Saima was also committed to the Jihadist cause.
In transcripts of internet chats included in the evidence at Khan's trial, Saima Mohamed tells him of her desire to become a suicide commando. In a written letter she tells him: "The more I think about my goal in life, the more vivid my goals become. Whether it's exploding prisons or freeing Muslim prisoners … Let it be a martyrdom operation."
She tells Khan that although her sister Mariyam disapproves of her ambition to become a martyr, Fahim has given her his approval. Mohamed was never arrested. She declined several interview requests from CBC News but in a letter from her lawyer Faizel Kutty, he stated that she does not espouse violent views. He also reminded the CBC being young can be a difficult and confusing period.
Aabid Khan and Fahim Ahmad's plan was to rent basements apartments in Toronto where their most-committed internet recruits could live for a month and bond before leaving for Pakistan to get paramilitary training with Lashkar.
After training they would return to Toronto, choose targets and then disperse to stage spectacular acts of terrorism in at least four countries. But as Ahmad was out searching for cheap apartments to rent, the plan began to fall apart.
Grew impatient
Ahmad began to grow impatient with Khan, who wanted to move slowly. Ahmad also had trouble getting his hands on the $5,000 he calculated he would need to go to Pakistan. After splitting with Khan, Ahmad and his friend Zakaria Amara turned their attention to Canada and building an al-Qaeda type cell in Toronto.
In August 2008, Aabid Khan was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In 2007, another Clear Guidance regular, Mersad Bektasavic, received a 15 year, four-month sentence from a Bosnian court for plotting an attack in Europe. When Bektasevic was arrested, police found a suicide vest and 18 kilograms of factory-made explosive in his apartment.
In June 2009, American Syed Haris Ahmed was found guilty of material support for terrorism in the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years. Later that year, his friend Ehsenul Mohamed Sadequee was found guilty on four terrorism charges and sentenced to 17 years followed by 30 years of supervision. In the indictments of both men, Fahim Ahmad is named as a co-conspirator.
Fahim Ahmad has pleaded guilty to four charges. He is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. As a result of his guilty plea, the jury is no longer involved in Ahmad's case. He will be sentenced in Federal Court in Brampton, Ont., by Justice Fletcher Dawson later this summer.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
CHAND OPPOSED TERRORISM - TORONTO 18
FROM: http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/Chand+opposed+extremism+lawyer+says/3129574/story.html
Steven Chand staunchly opposed the extremist ideology espoused by "Toronto 18" ringleader Fahim Ahmad, openly challenging and even attempting to defraud his supposed friend, a Superior Court jury heard yesterday.
During his closing address, Mr. Chand's lawyer, Michael Moon, painted Ahmad as a young man trapped in a life of "grinding tedium" who fostered delusions of grandeur, in which he became "a lion and a leader" fighting for Muslims around the world.
"Fahim Ahmad was a frog who believed he was a jihadi prince," Mr. Moon said. "He was just a frog, and Steven knew that ... Whenever Steven was exposed to Ahmad's ideas, he opposed them."
By the time Ahmad's views had crystallized into a plot to detonate bombs in downtown Toronto and storm Parliament, the jury heard, Mr. Chand-- who often confronted Ahmad on his jihadist "rants" -- had elected to keep his distance.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last month, while Mr. Chand, 29, stands charged with participating in a terrorist group and counseling to commit fraud in association with that group.
Mr. Moon placed critical emphasis on the time frame in which the terrorist faction allegedly operated. The Crown suggests it was launched in 2005, culminating in a December training camp, and then continued in 2006 up until a series of arrests that spring. Mr. Moon contends the group was not officially operating until February 2006; at the time of the camp, which his client attended, he says Mr. Chand "would not, could not and did not know such a group existed."
Rather, Mr. Chand-- who helped set up an obstacle course and consulted with Ahmad about the performance of attendeees -- believed the camp in Washago, Ont., was focused on "winter survival tactics," the jury heard.
"Steven was no more than a potential recruit," Mr. Moon said, noting his client was not present for some of the key terror-related activities, such as handgun training or Ahmad's infamous "fall of Rome" speech, in which he called for the destruction of western society.
"[Mr. Chand was] off smoking a joint," Mr. Moon suggested, pointing to testimony from star Crown witness Mubin Shaikh about how Mr. Chand frequently went for walks in the woods. When he came back from these sojourns, "his eyes were red and he would be hungry," the jury heard.
At no point was Mr. Chand involved in the "jihadist aspects" of the camp, Mr. Moon said, nor was he a part of Ahmad's "inner circle," as the Crown has suggested.
Because Mr. Chand and Ahmad differed in their political views, Mr. Moon said, they drifted further apart in the weeks after the camp.
"[Ahmad was] critical and mocking of Steven for his peaceable and non-jihadist ways," Mr. Moon asserted, noting Mr. Chand ultimately decided he wanted nothing to do with Ahmad.
Mr. Chand would later contact Ahmad about a moneymaking scheme, which the Crown alleges was a means of funding the terrorist group. But Mr. Moon contends his client was actually out to defraud Ahmad and split the proceeds with another friend; the scheme never got off the ground.
Mr. Chand is being jointly tried with Asad Ansari, who is also accused of participating in the homegrown terror cell. The Crown will close its case today, with the jury expected to begin deliberations next week.
Steven Chand staunchly opposed the extremist ideology espoused by "Toronto 18" ringleader Fahim Ahmad, openly challenging and even attempting to defraud his supposed friend, a Superior Court jury heard yesterday.
During his closing address, Mr. Chand's lawyer, Michael Moon, painted Ahmad as a young man trapped in a life of "grinding tedium" who fostered delusions of grandeur, in which he became "a lion and a leader" fighting for Muslims around the world.
"Fahim Ahmad was a frog who believed he was a jihadi prince," Mr. Moon said. "He was just a frog, and Steven knew that ... Whenever Steven was exposed to Ahmad's ideas, he opposed them."
By the time Ahmad's views had crystallized into a plot to detonate bombs in downtown Toronto and storm Parliament, the jury heard, Mr. Chand-- who often confronted Ahmad on his jihadist "rants" -- had elected to keep his distance.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last month, while Mr. Chand, 29, stands charged with participating in a terrorist group and counseling to commit fraud in association with that group.
Mr. Moon placed critical emphasis on the time frame in which the terrorist faction allegedly operated. The Crown suggests it was launched in 2005, culminating in a December training camp, and then continued in 2006 up until a series of arrests that spring. Mr. Moon contends the group was not officially operating until February 2006; at the time of the camp, which his client attended, he says Mr. Chand "would not, could not and did not know such a group existed."
Rather, Mr. Chand-- who helped set up an obstacle course and consulted with Ahmad about the performance of attendeees -- believed the camp in Washago, Ont., was focused on "winter survival tactics," the jury heard.
"Steven was no more than a potential recruit," Mr. Moon said, noting his client was not present for some of the key terror-related activities, such as handgun training or Ahmad's infamous "fall of Rome" speech, in which he called for the destruction of western society.
"[Mr. Chand was] off smoking a joint," Mr. Moon suggested, pointing to testimony from star Crown witness Mubin Shaikh about how Mr. Chand frequently went for walks in the woods. When he came back from these sojourns, "his eyes were red and he would be hungry," the jury heard.
At no point was Mr. Chand involved in the "jihadist aspects" of the camp, Mr. Moon said, nor was he a part of Ahmad's "inner circle," as the Crown has suggested.
Because Mr. Chand and Ahmad differed in their political views, Mr. Moon said, they drifted further apart in the weeks after the camp.
"[Ahmad was] critical and mocking of Steven for his peaceable and non-jihadist ways," Mr. Moon asserted, noting Mr. Chand ultimately decided he wanted nothing to do with Ahmad.
Mr. Chand would later contact Ahmad about a moneymaking scheme, which the Crown alleges was a means of funding the terrorist group. But Mr. Moon contends his client was actually out to defraud Ahmad and split the proceeds with another friend; the scheme never got off the ground.
Mr. Chand is being jointly tried with Asad Ansari, who is also accused of participating in the homegrown terror cell. The Crown will close its case today, with the jury expected to begin deliberations next week.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
TORONTO 18 TRIAL - CROWN CLOSING ARGUMENTS
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/09/toronto-18.html
Closing arguments from the Crown were heard in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom on Wednesday for the last two men accused of plotting attacks on Parliament and other Canadian sites.
Steven Chand, 29, and Asad Ansari, 25, are both charged with knowingly participating in a terrorist group that media and authorities have dubbed the Toronto 18.
Chand is also charged with counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Speaking in Ontario Supreme Court, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson said evidence presented in court over the past few months proves a terrorist group existed and that the two men were actively involved in it.
He pointed to the accused's presence at a camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, which the Crown alleges was organized to recruit members to the group.
Croft alleges the men discussed what Canadian sites would be good to bomb and proposed targets like nuclear stations and Parliament.
He told the jury the men had weapons and ammunition and that one member of the group even built a detonator.
The Crown reminded the jury that to convict the men, they have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of the charges against them but that doesn't mean the Crown has to prove the case with absolute certainty.
During the trial, Ansari testified in his own defence, saying he was not an active participant in the group and was not aware of any plans to bomb high-profile targets in Toronto and Ottawa.
His lawyers have argued that what he had to say should be given more weight than any of the other testimony or evidence presented.
Closing arguments from the Crown were heard in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom on Wednesday for the last two men accused of plotting attacks on Parliament and other Canadian sites.
Steven Chand, 29, and Asad Ansari, 25, are both charged with knowingly participating in a terrorist group that media and authorities have dubbed the Toronto 18.
Chand is also charged with counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Speaking in Ontario Supreme Court, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson said evidence presented in court over the past few months proves a terrorist group existed and that the two men were actively involved in it.
He pointed to the accused's presence at a camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, which the Crown alleges was organized to recruit members to the group.
Croft alleges the men discussed what Canadian sites would be good to bomb and proposed targets like nuclear stations and Parliament.
He told the jury the men had weapons and ammunition and that one member of the group even built a detonator.
The Crown reminded the jury that to convict the men, they have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of the charges against them but that doesn't mean the Crown has to prove the case with absolute certainty.
During the trial, Ansari testified in his own defence, saying he was not an active participant in the group and was not aware of any plans to bomb high-profile targets in Toronto and Ottawa.
His lawyers have argued that what he had to say should be given more weight than any of the other testimony or evidence presented.
Friday, May 28, 2010
TORONTO 18 SCARED OF JIHAD TALK
FROM: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=3080523
The final witness testifying in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case said he was "scared of the jihad talk" when he met with ringleader Fahim Ahmad to discuss ways of fraudulently raising money for the group.
Thomas Stella, a defence witness and longtime friend of Steven Chand, one of the final two facing charges in the high-profile case, told the jury he wanted nothing to do with the group after Mr. Chand introduced him to Ahmad and Mubin Shaikh, an undercover Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, on two occasions in March 2006.
"I just didn't want to deal with them," said Mr. Stella, who described Ahmad as "nuts" after hearing his jihad philosophy.
Mr. Stella testified that he and Mr. Chand became friends while working at a telemarketing company in 1997.
Mr. Chand, 29, is on trial and accused of participating in the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006 and planned to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and behead the prime minister.
He also faces a charge of counselling someone to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Earlier this month, Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.
Throughout yesterday's proceedings, Mr. Chand sat silently at the back of the courtroom, his shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a bun. He did not take the stand in his own defence.
Mr. Stella, 28, told the court that in 2005, his primary source of income was credit card fraud, an activity that resulted in a conviction the following year.
He said Mr. Chand discussed with him in early 2006 the possibility of obtaining "profiles" -- detailed personal information about unsuspecting private citizens -- from Ahmad for the purpose of committing identity theft to raise money for the group.
The jury heard a CSIS wiretap intercept in which Mr. Stella tells Ahmad, Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Chand how stolen personal information could be used to obtain bank loans of between $10,000 and $25,000. He also boasted about being able to "create" people by using the stolen personal information of dead people to obtain a SIN number.
"In this wonderful country you just need a SIN number to be a person," Mr. Stella is heard telling the group.
Mr. Chand's lawyer attempted to paint his client as a simple bystander during the meeting.
"Did Steven have any role to play at this first meeting?" Michael Moon asked.
"No," replied Mr. Stella. Mr. Moon hinted that the two friends intended to defraud Ahmad by using the personal information he supplied to take out loans, all the while telling Ahmad that the scheme didn't work.
When asked if Mr. Chand was to receive any proceeds resulting from the identity thefts and bank loans, Mr. Stella replied: "I guess."
The final witness testifying in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case said he was "scared of the jihad talk" when he met with ringleader Fahim Ahmad to discuss ways of fraudulently raising money for the group.
Thomas Stella, a defence witness and longtime friend of Steven Chand, one of the final two facing charges in the high-profile case, told the jury he wanted nothing to do with the group after Mr. Chand introduced him to Ahmad and Mubin Shaikh, an undercover Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, on two occasions in March 2006.
"I just didn't want to deal with them," said Mr. Stella, who described Ahmad as "nuts" after hearing his jihad philosophy.
Mr. Stella testified that he and Mr. Chand became friends while working at a telemarketing company in 1997.
Mr. Chand, 29, is on trial and accused of participating in the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006 and planned to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and behead the prime minister.
He also faces a charge of counselling someone to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.
Earlier this month, Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.
Throughout yesterday's proceedings, Mr. Chand sat silently at the back of the courtroom, his shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a bun. He did not take the stand in his own defence.
Mr. Stella, 28, told the court that in 2005, his primary source of income was credit card fraud, an activity that resulted in a conviction the following year.
He said Mr. Chand discussed with him in early 2006 the possibility of obtaining "profiles" -- detailed personal information about unsuspecting private citizens -- from Ahmad for the purpose of committing identity theft to raise money for the group.
The jury heard a CSIS wiretap intercept in which Mr. Stella tells Ahmad, Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Chand how stolen personal information could be used to obtain bank loans of between $10,000 and $25,000. He also boasted about being able to "create" people by using the stolen personal information of dead people to obtain a SIN number.
"In this wonderful country you just need a SIN number to be a person," Mr. Stella is heard telling the group.
Mr. Chand's lawyer attempted to paint his client as a simple bystander during the meeting.
"Did Steven have any role to play at this first meeting?" Michael Moon asked.
"No," replied Mr. Stella. Mr. Moon hinted that the two friends intended to defraud Ahmad by using the personal information he supplied to take out loans, all the while telling Ahmad that the scheme didn't work.
When asked if Mr. Chand was to receive any proceeds resulting from the identity thefts and bank loans, Mr. Stella replied: "I guess."
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
ASAD ANSARI DID NOT KNOW ABOUT TORONTO 18 PLOT SAYS DEFENCE
*** Like I said, 'no comment'. Yet. MS ***
FROM: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/05/18/asad-ansari-did-not-know-about-toronto-18s-alleged-plot-defence/
One of the remaining two accused in the “Toronto 18″ terrorism prosecution was in the dark about the alleged plot when he he took part in a winter training camp, a Superior Court jury heard today.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty last week, shared his terrorist ambitions with a select group, defence lawyer John Norris said, but Asad Ansari “was not among the trusted few.”
When he took part in the training camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, Mr. Ansari understood it simply to be a winter camping trip, the court heard. The group practiced paintball and shot guns; at one point, Ahmad delivered his now infamous “fall of Rome” speech, in which he called for the defeat of western society.
Mr. Norris, however, contends his client was not present for that speech.
“At no time was he aware of Mr. Ahmad’s terrorist plans or activities,” Mr. Norris told the jury.
Mr. Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case, and the first to be tried before a jury. The defence case continues this afternoon
FROM: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/05/18/asad-ansari-did-not-know-about-toronto-18s-alleged-plot-defence/
One of the remaining two accused in the “Toronto 18″ terrorism prosecution was in the dark about the alleged plot when he he took part in a winter training camp, a Superior Court jury heard today.
Ringleader Fahim Ahmad, who pleaded guilty last week, shared his terrorist ambitions with a select group, defence lawyer John Norris said, but Asad Ansari “was not among the trusted few.”
When he took part in the training camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005, Mr. Ansari understood it simply to be a winter camping trip, the court heard. The group practiced paintball and shot guns; at one point, Ahmad delivered his now infamous “fall of Rome” speech, in which he called for the defeat of western society.
Mr. Norris, however, contends his client was not present for that speech.
“At no time was he aware of Mr. Ahmad’s terrorist plans or activities,” Mr. Norris told the jury.
Mr. Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are the remaining two to be tried in the Toronto 18 case, and the first to be tried before a jury. The defence case continues this afternoon
ASAD ANSARI TESTIFIES IN HIS OWN DEFENCE - TORONTO 18 TRIAL
*** Does anybody honestly think people don't read the news? There are 12 such people deciding this case right now - in addition to the trial by media that has already been long underway. Only the one who was there can truly say what happened as a matter of fact under law.
That and, 'no comment'. :) MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/05/18/toornto-18.html#ixzz0oK5Kvh9U
A man charged with aiding the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist cell has told an Ontario court that when he was invited on a winter camping trip by one of the group's leaders, he was unaware he was actually being asked to attend a training camp.
Asad Ansari, 25, is one of the last accused to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. Ansari testified in his own defence in a Brampton, Ont., court Tuesday morning.
He admitted attending the camp for a few days in December 2005 at Washago, Ont. But he said he went only because he was invited by his longtime friend Zakaria Amara.
Amara, one of two confessed leaders of the group, has already pleaded guilty to plotting to set off three one-tonne fertilizer bombs in downtown Toronto and at an unnamed military base to protest Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan.
Amara was given a life sentence.
In court, Ansari described himself at the time of al-Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks against the United States as a typical young Muslim man, suddenly having to look for answers.
On the one hand, Ansari testified, he saw himself as a Canadian who believed in democracy and also believed that the Muslim world could learn a lot from the West.
On the other hand, he said, after Sept. 11 there was a palpable feeling among Muslims the world over that Western societies viewed all Muslims with suspicion. He said he and other young men like him suddenly began to question where they fit into the world.
At one point, after his banker fathered revealed he could not afford to send Ansari to university because he had lost a lot of the family's money in bad investments, Ansari testified that he seriously considered suicide.
In draft suicide notes to his mother, father and younger sister, he made references to "dying for the sake of Allah."
One of the options he considered but quickly discarded was volunteering to fight with the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, he told the court.
Ansari also testified he considered non-political options such as drowning or hanging himself.
Even after leaving thoughts of suicide behind, Ansari said, with his dream of earning a degree in computer science at Waterloo University shattered, he went into a long depression and felt like "a loser."
Ansari and Steven Chand are the last two of the Toronto 18 to be on trial.
Seventeen people alleged to have been members of the group were arrested on June 2, 2006. The 18th arrest followed three weeks later.
That and, 'no comment'. :) MS ***
FROM: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/05/18/toornto-18.html#ixzz0oK5Kvh9U
A man charged with aiding the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist cell has told an Ontario court that when he was invited on a winter camping trip by one of the group's leaders, he was unaware he was actually being asked to attend a training camp.
Asad Ansari, 25, is one of the last accused to be tried in the Toronto 18 case. Ansari testified in his own defence in a Brampton, Ont., court Tuesday morning.
He admitted attending the camp for a few days in December 2005 at Washago, Ont. But he said he went only because he was invited by his longtime friend Zakaria Amara.
Amara, one of two confessed leaders of the group, has already pleaded guilty to plotting to set off three one-tonne fertilizer bombs in downtown Toronto and at an unnamed military base to protest Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan.
Amara was given a life sentence.
In court, Ansari described himself at the time of al-Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks against the United States as a typical young Muslim man, suddenly having to look for answers.
On the one hand, Ansari testified, he saw himself as a Canadian who believed in democracy and also believed that the Muslim world could learn a lot from the West.
On the other hand, he said, after Sept. 11 there was a palpable feeling among Muslims the world over that Western societies viewed all Muslims with suspicion. He said he and other young men like him suddenly began to question where they fit into the world.
At one point, after his banker fathered revealed he could not afford to send Ansari to university because he had lost a lot of the family's money in bad investments, Ansari testified that he seriously considered suicide.
In draft suicide notes to his mother, father and younger sister, he made references to "dying for the sake of Allah."
One of the options he considered but quickly discarded was volunteering to fight with the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, he told the court.
Ansari also testified he considered non-political options such as drowning or hanging himself.
Even after leaving thoughts of suicide behind, Ansari said, with his dream of earning a degree in computer science at Waterloo University shattered, he went into a long depression and felt like "a loser."
Ansari and Steven Chand are the last two of the Toronto 18 to be on trial.
Seventeen people alleged to have been members of the group were arrested on June 2, 2006. The 18th arrest followed three weeks later.
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